“The fact that I can’t walk down the street holding my boyfriend’s
hand really fucking sucks,” says Marcus
Wilson, manager of Capitol
Hill gay bar Pony. Several weeks ago, Wilson became the latest victim
of yet another gay-bashing incident on Capitol Hill. Wilson is an icon
in Seattle’s gay community: He fronted Pho Bang as Ursula Android and
was the driving force behind the hugely popular gay dance night
Comeback at Chop Suey. According to court records, on September 22,
just before 4:00 a.m., Wilson was approached by two men on the street
who repeatedly called him a “faggot” and threatened to kill him.
Because of a string of homophobic attacks around Seattle in the last
few months, King County prosecutors are aggressively pursuing felony
harassment charges in the case. King County Prosecutor Mike Hogan, who
handles bias-crime cases, says increasing gentrification on Capitol
Hill has led to a spike in the number of gay-bashing incidents in the
neighborhood. “You’ve got a lot more straight nightclubs and coffee
shops [on Capitol Hill] than you did a few years ago,” Hogan says.
“You’re getting people who are drunk and in the [neighborhood], and
they don’t realize they’re in the gay [neighborhood].” Based on the
strength of its witnesses, the county says it could pursue a sentence
ranging from 90 days to nine months. While the county’s get-tough
stance on hate crimes seems like a good thing, in this case, it appears
to be going after the wrong guys.
Wilson’s statements in police and court records point the finger at
two men—Bryan Krieger and Matthew Oly—employees of Capitol
Hill bars Chapel and Comet Tavern, respectively. Given Wilson’s high
profile, this seems like a perfect opportunity for prosecutors to get
tough on gay bashing. However, several key facts about the case seem to
have been glossed over by prosecutors, and even Wilson seems to be
waffling on whether or not he identified the right guys.
According to police reports, Oly approached Wilson near the Value
Village on 11th Avenue and Pike Street and asked him for change. When
Wilson rebuffed his request, Oly allegedly called him a “faggot” and
threatened to kill him, which is what makes the incident a hate crime.
Wilson called a friend and Pony coworker, and told the colleague he was
being “gay bashed.” He met up with the friend a block away near the
Wildrose. There, his friend—also listed as a victim in the police
report—claims they too were threatened by Krieger and called
names like “faggot” and “Pony faggot.” Krieger and Oly allegedly tried
to talk Wilson out of calling 911. There may be another reason Krieger
and Oly didn’t want them to call: Acccording to the police report, when
police arrested the men, they found cocaine and what appeared to be
marijuana and Percocet on Oly. Now, prosecutors are going after Oly and
Krieger. However, there are some problems with their case.
For starters, one of the witnesses—Christopher Lynch—who
helped police identify Oly and Krieger, may have instigated the fracas.
Indeed, Oly and Krieger told us Lynch was the person harassing Wilson.
Even Wilson told us because “it was dark and late [and] it did all
happen very quickly,” that Lynch could be the harrasser. Wilson’s
friend, however, says Lynch isn’t the one at fault. The King County
prosecutor’s office has not contacted Lynch since the incident, and we
were not able to
locate him.
According to a bouncer at the Showbox, Lynch had been thrown out of
the club earlier that night for being drunk and rowdy. Coincidentally,
the bouncer ran into Lynch on
Capitol Hill around 4:00 a.m. not
far from where Wilson claims he was gay bashed. Lynch also has a
criminal history: He’s previously pleaded guilty to second-degree
robbery and, according to a police report, Lynch also faced a
harassment charge after he threatened bouncers at the Last Supper Club
with a bottle after he and a friend were pepper-sprayed for fighting in
front of the club. The harassment case was dropped due to the
prosecution’s lack of testifying witnesses.
Wilson has flip-flopped on his ability to identify any guilty
parties. In an e-mail to a friend of Krieger’s, Wilson wrote, “It was
not my
intention for Bryan to be put in jail unfairly. [Two weeks
ago] two of my employees got the shit beaten out of them a block away
from where the incident occurred… so I was on edge walking home on
Friday night and the other guy involved (I’m assuming he was a friend
of Bryan’s) was harassing me.” It isn’t clear which “other guy” Wilson
is referring to from the e-mails. But in another e-mail, Wilson tells
Krieger’s friend he “just had a lengthy conversation with the
prosecutor and explained [he] had doubts about [Krieger’s]
involvement.” Wilson told The Stranger: “If these guys weren’t
at the root of the problem, [that] needs to be examined. The last thing
I’d ever want is for the wrong person to be punished.”
Hogan, the county prosecutor, says he has discussed the incident
with Wilson, but he has made no recantation. The county is still going
forward with what it believes is a solid case. Oly and Krieger posted
bail and are working on getting public defenders. Oly says he has yet
to tell his father, who is gay, about the incident. 
